During his first visit to Brazil, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan discussed with Brazilian defence minister Walter Braga Neto the possibility of Brazil’s joining NATO´s global partnership initiative , according to a recent report by the Brazilian Folha de Sao Paulo.
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Sullivan raised the issue of granting Brazil a NATO global partner status while discussing defence and security with Braga Neto on Thursday. The offer to become a NATO global partner involves the condition that Brazil drops Chinese 5G technologies for its wireless communications networks, supplied by Huawei. The U.S. government views Huawei as unreliable, which hinders cooperation on security communications, Folha de Sao Paulo said.
The Brazilian newspaper also informed that Sullivan gave the details of this proposal to Brazil’s Minister of Communications, Fabio Faria, assuring him that it is possible to promote instead the U.S. Open RAN technology as a tool to develop wireless capabilities, a technology similar to Huawei’s 5G in the market of the South American giant.
This U.S. initiative comes at a time when Bolsonaro himself has been considering banning the tech giant Huawei from supplying components for Brazil’s next 5G network, playing the same anti-China script as the United States.
The Chinese government has repeatedly denounced the unfounded accusations of espionage against Huawei made by the U.S., and attributed Washington’s threats to other countries ordering them to shut out the Chinese company from their 5G networks to US fear of the great technological progress of the company and of China in general.
NATO Global Partnership initiative comprises 9 countries across the globe, including Australia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, which cooperate with NATO members to resolve emerging security challenges and contribute to the bloc’s operations either militarily or in some other way.
Colombia is the only nation in Latin America to have been granted the status.